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“I’ll sleep on the floor.” Gao Yingjie says before Qiao Yifan can even finish opening the door to the hotel room.
“What?” Yifan looks incredulous. “Yingjie, if it bothers you that much I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Yifan’s feelings are obviously a little hurt. They’re best friends after all! They roomed together during training camp, ate dinner together nearly every night, and shared countless secrets. And now Yingjie is acting weird about sharing a bed?
The problem isn’t that Yingjie doesn’t want to share a bed. It’s just that he wants to maybe a little too much. His face heats up at the thought of being so close to Yifan. Close enough to smell his freshly shampooed hair, maybe even to hold his hand…
But how could he explain any of this to Yifan?
“N-no it’s not that! I just um...” Yingjie grasps for an explanation, any explanation other than having a massive crush on his best friend. “I just don’t want to disturb you.”
“Oh,” Yifan scratches the back of his head. “Is that all? Don’t worry too much about that. I’m a pretty heavy sleeper.”
***
Heart thundering in his chest, Yingjie squeezes his eyes shut and tries to think of anything other than how close he and Yifan are. He tells himself it’s the same as when they roomed together at training camp, except this time the beds were pushed together instead of being on opposite sides of the room. It wasn’t like they were sharing a twin or anything. It was a king bed! There was plenty of room for both of them. He probably wouldn’t even notice Yifan was there-
Yingjie’s eyes snap open as Yifan’s toes lightly tickle the bottom of his foot.
“Sorry, Yingjie.” Yifan mumbles, only half awake. His head is still resting on his pillow, but the rest of his body is sprawled diagonally across the bed. For someone who is usually so concerned about taking up space, Yifan could really spread out.
Yingjie wiggles his toes and is disappointed to find Yifan has already rolled back to the other side of the bed.
***
Yingjie wills himself to fall asleep, but the spot where Yifan’s toes touched his foot still burns, and his mind is racing with devious thoughts of ‘accidentally’ rolling over to Yifan’s side.
Just when he finally starts to drift off to sleep, an arm smacks him in the face, nearly sending him tumbling off the edge of the bed. Yifan has rolled over to Yingjie’s side. Again. Except this time he doesn’t wake up and apologize.
Yifan continues sleeping, blissfully unaware of Yingjie’s current predicament. Yingjie manages to pry himself from under Yifan’s arm, but he can’t figure out a way to move Yifan back to the other side of the bed without waking him up. (And if Yifan woke up right now he would definitely try and apologize about a thousand times and insist on sleeping on the floor).
They lie shoulder to shoulder, heads just a few centimeters apart. Yingjie sneaks a peek at his friend’s peaceful face, resisting the urge to brush a few loose strands of hair out of his eyes. He didn’t think it was possible for Yifan to get any cuter, but sleeping Yifan is so adorable!
Yifan’s fingers graze Yingjie’s hand as he stirs in his sleep. Yingjie lets Yifan’s touch linger a moment before carefully wrapping his fingers around Yifan’s hand. Heart in his throat, Yingjie scoots closer so his head rests against Yifan’s shoulder.
Yingjie closes his eyes, listening to the soothing hum of Yifan’s breathing. He can’t help but feel a little bad. Right now, Yifan has no say in whether or not he wants to hold Yingjie’s hand. But... it was Yifan who rolled over to his side of the bed in the first place, and besides that, Yingjie thinks Yifan wouldn’t mind if he cuddled a little closer, especially if Yingjie blamed it on something like the chilly hotel room air. (It wouldn't be a complete lie. The heating here really isn’t the same quality as their nice Tiny Herb dorm). Yifan, is just so... warm, so lovely, and his hand is so soft, softer than Yingjie ever imagined it might be, and he wishes he could keep holding it like this, keep holding him like this. Keep holding him when they are awake, when he watches Yifan silently struggle during practice, when he hears some of the nasty things being said about him behind his back.
Yingjie wants to keep Yifan by his side. Always. Forever.
***
Qiao Yifan snuggles closer to the cozy warmth wrapped around him, mistaking it for the heated blanket his mom sent him when he moved to City B. Then the ‘blanket’ moves and Yifan remembers he’s not in City B anymore. He’s also not alone in bed.
At first, Yifan thinks it’s Yingjie who’s rolled over to his side of the bed, but after assessing their position in the room, realizes it’s the other way around. Yifan feels a little embarrassed at the awkward situation he put his friend in last night. Yingjie was probably too nervous about waking him up to say anything. He hopes he didn’t interrupt his friend’s sleep too much...
Yifan’s entire body tingles as Yingjie’s nose nuzzles the back of his neck. One of Yingjie’s arms is draped over him, and Yifan’s heart skips a beat as he realizes their fingers are intertwined. He’s imagined holding Yingjie’s hand countless times, but he never thought the first time would be quite like this.
Sunlight filters through the curtains and Yifan knows their alarm will go off soon. Still, he closes his eyes and sinks into his friend’s embrace, relishing in this fleeting moment.